A comparison between the costs of dialysis treatments in Marche Region, Italy: Macerata and Tolentino hospitals.

Backgrounds: The main aim of this study was to estimate the costs of different dialysis modalities through the analysis of administrative databases in the Macerata and Tolentino hospitals, in Italy.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed two main categories: medical direct costs (all the monetary costs whose consumption is wholly referable to dialysis treatment) and non-medical direct costs (all the costs that make treatment possible but that are outside the medical care sector), related to 2013. Attention was focused on the analysis of the extracorporeal dialysis methods (HD, HDF/AFB, HDF/MID/HFR) and the peritoneal dialysis (APD, CAPD).

[Epilepsy, vertigo, dizziness, headache, emesis as neurological manifestation in a Giteleman's Sindrome case].

We report the case of a woman presenting the recent onset of multiple seizure and epilepsy episodes combined with other neurological symptoms (e.g. vertigo, dizziness, vomiting, headache).

Post-dilution hemodiafiltration with a heparin-grafted polyacrylonitrile membrane.

The aim of this multicenter, prospective study was to explore the possibility of carrying out routine sessions of post-dilution hemodiafiltration with a polyacrylonitrile membrane grafted with heparin (HeprAN) and reduced anticoagulation. Forty-four patients from eight centers were included in the study and treated by means of post-dilution on-line hemodiafiltration with automatic control of TMP, according to three different modalities tested consecutively: phase 1, polyethersulfone filter primed with heparinized saline and anticoagulated with continuous infusion of unfractionated heparin 1000/h; phase 2, HeprAN membrane filter primed with saline without heparin. Anticoagulation: a 1000-unit bolus of unfractionated heparin at the start of session followed by a second one at the end of the second dialysis hour; phase 3, same filter and priming procedure as in phase 2; anticoagulation with nadroparin calcium at the beginning of treatment.

[Nephrotic syndrome as first presentation of malignant thymoma: description of a clinical case].

Thymoma is a rare neoplasm originating from thymic epithelial cells. It is associated with paraneoplastic syndromes and a severe form of immunodeficiency. Kidney involvement is rare.